Irish History

Before I left for Ireland I read a handful of Irish history books. It was useful and nice to have this background during the trip. But my perusal was rushed (one week) and not nearly as in depth as I would have liked.

This is one I read in the past and just loved loved loved so I include it on this list. How the Irish Saved Civilization by?????. You must read this wonderful book about the Catholic monks in Ireland during the dark ages. Basically it covers how almost all knowledge we have of times before the dark ages are from copies of manuscripts made by Irish monks. Also how modern universities were founded and started all over the continent by Irish monks to return and spread this knowledge that they alone had saved. Very good. One of my favorites.

The Story of the Irish Race by Saumas McManus- I have to admit I did not finish this book. It was very dense- and I was in a rush and the author had a Irish worshipping self aggrandizement I just couldn't stomach. I rarely don't finish a book but this was one of them.

A Concise History of Ireland by Marie and Conor Cruise O'Brien. This was a little too concise. I like the ancient history section but from St Patrick on this book moves at a breakneck speed through the complex history of Ireland. Often I was reading and thought wait what uprising is this only to realize I was confused because the previous uprising was discussed just a paragraph earlier. The coverage on the Irish famine was very disappointing. But I saw a couple of good book reviews on this subject alone so maybe I will read one of those. This was good for a quick overview but so rushed and compact that it wasn't as enlightening as I had hoped for.

Malachy McCourt's History of Ireland. This is Frank McCourts brother, which I found amusing because really you know that is the only way this got published. That makes it sound not very good- not true. Malachy has his brothers gift of storytelling. He approaches the subject by telling the stories of famous Irish. I really liked his stories- that being said there is no frame work to place the characters in. So you would know about the great people but just not exactly how it all fit together but with the previous book it was an okay combination. Unlike Frank's stories I felt like these were worth telling. (Uhm I don't really like Frank McCourt and HATE Angela's Ashes- just a disclaimer.)